Employee Spotlight: Sarah Burger: Green Building Analyst

More and more developers want to take advantage of incorporating green building standards into their projects and GCE Services can provide assistance at all development project stages:
• Applying for low-income tax credit financed housing
• Design
• Monitoring
• and Test Out and Certification.

Sarah Burger, a GCE green building analyst who is a certified National Green Building Standard (NGBS) verifier and a RESNET certified HERS rater, brings many years of experience in the fields of sustainability and building science, ensuring projects use energy efficient construction and meet green building standards.

“There are only four NGBS verifiers in Louisiana and Sarah is the only one in the New Orleans area,” says GCE Managing Partner Jackie Dadakis. “Louisiana and Mississippi give incentive points to developers applying for low-income tax credit financing who commit to NGBS. Part of that commitment requires certification and Sarah can work with developers every step of the way.”

During the application stage for proposed renovation projects, Burger, who has previously worked as a site supervisor and construction manager, will create energy models for existing dwelling units to get a current HERS rating. From there, Burger will determine what a developer must do to reach NGBS standards.

“For example, we will ask questions like ‘if we change certain things like HVAC insulation what will that give us in terms of savings?’ The answers to questions like this lead us to figuring out how to get to the standards. It• It’s similar with new construction, but in that case, you’re working with a clean slate,” Burger says.

As projects are moving forward and depending on the client’s needs, GCE can assist during the design stage, reviewing plans in order to reach green building standards. Throughout the construction phase, GCE will monitor the project, and when the project is near completion, the team will perform a variety of tests (e.g. blower door tests, and duct leakage tests) for final certification.

The GCE Services team, which is also certified in Energy Star 3.0, LEED and Enterprise Green Community rating systems, are currently working on a number of low-income housing projects including the Iberville redevelopment, the Columbia single family rehabilitation project in Alexandria, LA and the Winnsboro project in Monroe, LA.